Maybe it’s because I talk for a living.

Whatever the cause, when I was in an ISDN session this week (and I don’t do too many of them, much to Dan Friedman’s chagrin) the commercial producer at the other end had me do my line readings (literally two lines) in sets of threes and sixes (or until I lost count) and then turned off the mic after saying she’d get right back to me. So I stayed on hold, in the announce booth, waiting.

Why they didn’t have the instrumental version of “The Girl from Ipanema” playing in the background while I waited, I’ll never know.

All I heard was….silence. For minutes.

While I made small talk with my ISDN host, in my mind, I’m imagining a conversation across to the other codec as the silence continued.

Producer: Why was this guy chosen again?
Assistant: We can probably still get some of the other voices, it’s not too late.
Engineer: Can we just fire him so I can go to lunch now?

Now, in fact what they were likely doing was listening back, matching my reads with the female voice talent whom they recorded earlier, Catherine Sheehan, whose sentences I was finishing as part of the script.

Mr. Everyman Voice wins again!

Anyway, then everything was fine and they said thanks and I went on my merry way.

But for a brief moment, inside this only occasionally paranoid voice actor’s head, the silence was deafening.

Did this ever happen to you?

Tags: commentary, commercials, isdn, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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The Archive of American Television has so many amazing interviews of performers who have truly fascinating stories that you really can’t hear anywhere else. Most of the interviews are uncut and I’ve really enjoyed that.

Well on a You Tube fly around I found this great series featuring the legendary Don Pardo from 2006. They are long segments but they are amazing.

I hope you enjoy.

Tags: announcers, commentary, radio, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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Here’s another one of those situations where I missed out in meeting somebody whose work I always enjoyed.

Last week the voice over world and TV fans everyone bade farewell to Dick Tufeld.

Most of us “of a certain age” can remember Dick as the voice of “Robot” in the TV series “Lost in Space” and he WAS great in it.

But I also remember him on a number of award shows where at the end, he would say “This is Dick Tufeld speaking.”

I’ve written about Dick before on these pages. Here also is an obit.

Two nice ways to remember – or learn about – a great voice talent.

And of course, have a listen:

Tags: commentary, requiescat in pace, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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The headline screams: “American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Screen Actors Guild Reach Agreement on Merger Package for Recommendations to SAG and AFTRA National Board of Directors”.

Tip of the hat to Mercedes Rose for the heads up on Facebook.

Read all about it…this merger WOULD impact professional voice over talent in either union or a VO considering joining the new union.

In years past, these two professionally aligned unions couldn’t really get out of each others way in contractual disputes with studios and production companies and finally each other. People have realized for years that there is no need for TWO unions doing basically the same thing. Finally in the most recent elections, those supporting a merger were elected and now it seems, if the plan is ratified by the memberships, it will happen.

Will anybody outside of New York and Los Angeles care?

I’m not asking that in a snide way, I mean it as a real question: Has the non-union train left the station, not only for the people who join the performing unions but for people who hire the talent?

While talent outside of NY and LA question the value of agents to bring them substantial new work, those same people will debate the value proposition of what a union can really offer in calculable ROI for dues memberships. The performing world operates differently than it used to operate.

If this merger goes through (and I would be surprised if it didn’t) the resultant organization will have a LOT of work to do, I think, to encourage non-members to see significant value in becoming a member. It can be done…but that’s going to be a tall wall to climb.

What do you think will happen following a proposed merger?

Tags: broadcasting, commentary, unions, voice talent, voiceover by peter o'connell voiceover
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On March 23-25, 2012, Faffcon 4, presented by Voicebank.net will take place in Ventura Beach, CA at the Ventura Beach Marriott.

Registration opens this Friday, January 6 at 12:00 noon eastern time (9:00 a.m. pacific time – check your local listings).

If you are a PAST Faffer, the first 25 spots on the list will be open to YOU a full day before general registration opens, on Thursday January 5th at 9am PT (Noon ET).

I’ll be working on selling sponsorship packages to Faffcon 4 with my friend Connie Terwilliger and some options are not too expensive if you have a product or service you’d like to promote to some very successful or soon to be more successful voice talents (but as in life, nothing is free). Let myself or Connie know if you’d like to support with a nice door prize package or MORE.

Tags: commentary, faffcon by peter o'connell voiceover
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Email blasts are not new…for my Christmas card to audio’connell Voice Over Talent clients and friends I sent out over 2,500 emails in a single click (“faster than a locomotive, able to leap tall building in a single bound!“). I’m sure you do the same thing…it’s cheap it’s fast and you can capture briefly the attention of a lot of people when ever you feel you need to do that.

But where I think we end up lacking in our collective email blasts is in creativity. Should we tell one story, should we tell multiple stories? Should we microtarget the list or will buckshot do? Most of us don’t drill down very deep. Well at least I don’t.

The above example from my friend and vendor Don Papaj of Marketing Tech shows some simple yet I think effective creativity. (Editor’s note: Yes, I have used his company’s services for direct mail postcards and no this is not a paid nor expected {certainly not expected by Don} commercial). What you cannot see in this graphic is the animation that Marketing Technologies of Western New York includes in this .gif. The buffalo is sleeping on the treadmill and his belly goes up and down with the beer on it (very Buffalo).

I don’t know if there is a holiday that goes by where I don’t get a Marketing Technologies email and that bison isn’t doing something with some kind of logical tie in to a service Don and his team offer. All it takes is a little planning, maybe a bit of technical knowledge (or a vendor who can help provide that technical knowledge) and your email blast can be memorable too.

To be sure, it doesn’t have to look like Don’s….but what about what your are doing in your email marketing is memorable? Why does a recipient want to read your stuff? I mean, you may like the content but do your customers?

I do my own creative on my email blasts – mine aren’t nearly as nice as Don’s stuff but for better or worse the emails are infused with my personality. I try and add SOMETHING that’s different, helpful or funny. I want it to resonate with my audience.

My 2011 Christmas card has at present (with many folks still on vacation since I sent it last Friday) a click thru rate (those who opened it) of 32%. My regular quarterly blast gets about 28% click throughs. Now with email marketing, alot of a blast’s success depends on the list, time of year, messaging…lots of variables…but mine are getting read and I usually end up getting 2-3 calls on new business, the timing of which I can attribute to the email blast. “Aren’t I great,” he said, thumping his chest. No I’m not and that’s not why I offer those stats.

Much like government statistics, answers vary on what the median average is for an email marketing click thru rate. A very quick scan of Google showed “experts” who say 4-6% click thru is great. Others say a median percentage runs between 12-18%. So I’m scoring well but I never feel like it’s good enough.

I should play with the lists, target a bit more specifically and…and…and…oh hell, I got a business to run here and it ain’t a direct mail house. My point is kick up your creative and your blasts may be more explosive…in a good way.

Tags: advertising, commentary, google, marketing by peter o'connell voiceover
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